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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (May 23, 1909)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY MORNING. KAY 23, 1909 . - : r-. "' . i ' . . ... JiM i " t - s saasw i i . " M sp m n I w (PniivHirhi "190B hv The North Amerlcili Cutntunv.l J " J. Wonderful (Sypsij Lad Who Makes His Violin Talk KALMAN REV. AND THE FROM a datk recess of the little room came low. sweet quavers of u slrlngtd mimical Instrument, Popular ballads and folk songs, such as the walls of the Inn had often echoed when a merry company was prerent, were now being played, delightfully and lr) perfect tune. Who, was the musician? A lady tip toed softly from an adjoining room and mad.; her way quietly over to the dark corner. A moment later she? was heard to exclaim: "Why, It's Kalman!" But the little boy who had caused this surprise seemed not to hear. He played, with a rapt, far-away look In his eyes, as though in a dieam. When the last strain had died away, Kslrnan's aunt examined the musical Instrument. She found that an ear of malxe had been hollowed out to form a resounding box like a violin, and that 't)-re was a crude bridge and bits of strings. Thlr. together with a bow, had been fashioned by a tiny boy who was scarcely i years old! And so It carne about that the aunt of the bnby musician took him away from the inn of the hamlet of Putsa, Hun gary. In Budapest she taught him to play the violin and the piano. One day, when he was 7 years old, she went with him to the reat master, Hubay. After a long talk with the aunt, the greet musician took a violin, tuned it ' carefully and gave it to the boy to play. Kalman pinched the strings, and said: "it Is not tuned rightly." The master frowned, but he took tha Historical Tales of Sailormen The Beardless Admiral SOME bold pirates once took two English merchant ships, and Ad miral Keppel was sent to Algiers, where the pirates lived, to gel back the ship. When he got to the place he went up to the palace of the king of the pirates, taking nlth him only another English officer, and boldly demanded back the shls or full payment in money. The pirate king, who was a wicked man rind had killed hundreds of people, a rry angry. "I wonder," he cried, that the English king should ' be so foolish aa to send a beardless boy to me"' He said till? because Admiral Keppel had tm whiskers! Hut the admiral made such a bold re-pl- that the pirate king was furiously anpry, ai.d he threatened to have the un-inr Englishman killed. Not at all f r .ght' in-d Admiral Keppel pointed to the KiiRlifh shins in the harbor. Then he said calmly, "There are enough Englishmen there to blow your pjd.u-t! to hits!" The pirate klnjr said no more. He paid fnr the tlmnagc he liarl done to English ships, and Admiral Keppel went away sale and smiling. Brave Rescue of a Dog LORD COCHRANE was trying to Fink some ships which belonged to an rnemy. and to do that he rll'ed k one of hi:, own ships with gunpowder, and one dark night he sailed with it as near as he could to the enemy's hips. Then he set fire to the gunpowder hip and got ir.'.o a small boat with his allormen. and they all rowed as hard as they could so tha they could be as far away as possible before the fire got to the gunpowder and blew up the ship and all the enemy's ships whkh hap pened to oe near. Now. when the sailormen had rowed soma distance from the burning ship, on of them suddenly said:' "We've left the 4oc behind!" Lord Cochrane, as kind as he was brave, at once said-: "Row back, my Is da. and we'll aave the dog yet." Tha Jolly tars did row back, and, though they would have been killed if the hip had blown up then, they got Ooggr aafeljr Into the boat Mighty; -Aid ! GOOD man years ago, at a place Acre, trhich is near Esrypt. ih English sailors were help ing to Turkish aoldlen to defend tha ; Ilc against Mm French soldiers, " Vn ! French' general was abot MEETING WITH HL'BAY violin from the lad, and after trying It, repllrd: "You are correct; the 'A' Is a little low." "No, It Is a little high." said Kalman. with assurance. Thereupon he tuned the Instrument properly. And then he played with all his skill and all his heart. lluhay said nothing. Later he talked with Kalman'c aunt, finally announcing that he would take the boy and make a great violinist of him, without charge for tuition.' This was the real beginning of Kal man Rev's education. Today, at 12 Shears of age, he Is playing In London, where multitudes go to listen and won der" at this remarkable boy who can make his violin say such marvelous things. Kajlman studies hard, but he enjoys It. He plays from seven to eight hours a day. and would play even more were he permitted to do so Weird, dreamy lullabies he can improvise. Some time lie will compose in real earnest. But to do this he says he must go to the wild forest of Hungary, where the great, gnarled trees and the rugged cliffs will tell him secrets which he will give to the world through Ills violin. However, this tall, lithe gypsy lad, olive-skinned and with a thoughtful brow, full red lips and lustrous eyes, does not llw for music alone. He de - lights in rolltr skating, and is even not ashamed to ai'mlt a great love for dolls He would liko to spend hours dressing and undressing these playthings, wash ing them and putting them to bed. The wonderful boy muHlclaa is very much of a child, after all! dead, and as the soldiers on both sides were always firing at one an other no one could get near the body of the dead general without being In great danger. So for several days the body of the poor general lay unbur ied on the ground. At last one of the English sailors, who was an old man named Dan Bryan, said lie would go out to bury the dead French general, because, so he said, some Frenchmen had once been very kind to him. Ha therefore walked to the place where the body was. and though many bullets flew all about him I am very glad to say that lie was quite un harmed. Then -he commenced to dig a grave, and all the soldier's, as they now saw what he had gone out to do, at once stopped fifing. And during the time that Kan did his sad work not a shot was fired by any one. When Dan got back to his friends the English commander, whose name was Sir Sydney Smith, sent tpr him and praised him very much. "I hear that you did it all by yourself. Dan." said Sir Sydney Smith. "1 had somebody with me, sir,!' re plied Dan. "Ah! Who was that?" asked Sir Sydney, very much surprised. "God was with me, sir," said Dan. Crowed for Victory THERE lived at one time a famous English sailor whose name was Admiral Rodney, and on April 11' more than 100 years ago he won a great victury. Now, in the ship in which Admiral Itodney was there was also a game cock which, was the pet of the sailor men. This Mr. Cock was a very bold bird, indeed, for, during the battle, when cannon balls were flying about and sailormen were being killed, he Just stood on a box near Admiral Rodney and kept calling out, aa cockbirds do, "Cock-a-doodle-do! Cock-cock-cock-a-doodle do!" Everybody was amused at Mr. Cock. Admiral Rodney himself even no ticed him, and. though he had many other things to think about, he could not help saying to another officer, as he pointed to Mr. Cock. "Look at that little fellow. He it an honor to his country!" Mr. Cock went on crowing until the finish of the battle, and I am very glad to say that he was not hurt in any way. ' Of course, the sailormen made a greater pet of Mr. Cock than ever, and Admiral Rodney ordered that ha should have plenty to eat as long: as ha lived. Legend of Hie I&anished Wmg O. SPHINX. WHAT IN SPITE of all endeavors and King Kanish the Great did strive the very best he knew how prosper ity came not to the country, and times were ever troublous. "Why is It that my kingdom grows neither rich nor powerful, as do the dominions of my neighbors?" mused the king. "Nor Is It seemly that I should be called "the Great.' when I have done nothing for :ny people to deserve the title." The king pondered long upon the subject, until he decided that he would remain Inactive no longer. "1 am satisfied," said he, "that if the wrangling and strife would cease In my land and the people were to become happy and contented, pros perity would come also." So lie vowed that he would travel among the nations of the world, to discover how peace was best main tained. In order that it would be Impossible: for liim to be called hack to attend to matters of state, he ban ished himself for one whole year. As an ejjile, the monarch must needs travel alone without a retinue. Rut there being no telegraph or telephone In those days, lie devised a plan whereby he might 'be kept in touch with matters concerning his king dom i and by which he could exchange tiessages with his u.ueen whenever it Avas desired. Follcrwlng the king, within earshot, was a courtier, and behind this courtier was another no bleman, at like distance. Others fol lowed in a long line, so that the king could shnut a message, and it would bo passed along the line, each cour tier shouting to the person behind, until it reached the ears of the queen. Game of Lasso WHEN you boys again play "Cow boy and Indian," don't forget to try this lasso game, in which there's a lot of sport: Have each member make a lasso out of a rope like clothesline. Set a stout pole of good length firmly in the ground. Then, at some distance from the pole, arrange the company of play ers in a line. The, leader should start off on a mad run for the post, and, passing it at a. distance a little less than the length of his lasso, make a cast with the noose. Following him In rapid succession, the other players should make their throws. When the line re-forms on the far side of the post, those players who have en circled the pole with their lassoes take a place in the line ahead. of those play ers who have failed. Again and again the line dashes for the pole and the players try to lasso It. The player who leads the line at the end of a certain number of throws, at a time agreed upon by the rest of the company, wins the game. If it should be desired, the members may do their lassoing while running In a circle around the post. A Word T'M Billy Possum, don't you know! I've come to stay a while or so. Already I am all the "rage" With every child of every age. And doesn't Teddy Bear get mad (llis temper really makes one sad!) SHALL I DO TO SECURE HAPPINESS In this manner the king Journeyed on until he reached the Sphinx. Here he paused, and as the colossal Image had such a look of wisdom, he thought, he would propound a ques tion. "O Sphinx, what shall I do to se cure the happiness of my people?" he asked. And a olee issued from the Im movable lips of the Sphinx, saying; "By turning away from thy people when occasion demands It." King Kanish was considering how lie could possibly do good to his sub jects by tu-iilng away from them, when news,which had come from the queen and passed from courtier to cour tier, was delivered to him. "The queen wishes the king to know." shouted the nearest noble man, "that in the line which now follows thee are all they noblemen, tradesmen and men of importance Jn our land, so that business is at a standstill and the afTairs of the king dom may not be conducted." "Ah!" exclaimed the king, with a pleased smile, "then if there are ho men loft in the land, there certainly is no quarreling. At last my country la at peace with' Itself. I am of a mind to return and see how long this quiet will endure." Thereupon he revoked the edict by which he had banished himself, and, to the great relief of his followers, gave the order for all to return. And never again was there turmoil In the land of King Kanish the Great. Whenever there was a hint of the slightest disturbance the king would mildly suggest that it were almost time for hitn to go upon another pil grimage. Then all trouble would die; Gratitude R. SIMS tells a pretty story oT a boy and a mouse. The boy took a seat on the out G. patients' bench at a hospital, and when interviewed by the matron, asked If he might leave his pet brown mouse to be taken care of. The matron shook hor head. "I don't think we can take charge of anything that is in perfect health," she. said, smiling "Oh, do, do!" pleaded the boy. "1. love my little mouse, and he loves me, and I want it taken care of! Mother has gone away, I'm going away, and there will be no one to look after It." "Where has your mother gone?" apk.i'd the matron . . "She's been taken to this hospital." "And where are you going?" The boy hesitated for a moment, then he said sadly: "To tho workhouse, ma'am, and .I'm afraid they won't let me have my mouse there." The mouse was taken In as a non paying guest, and two months later the boy arrived to claim his pet. "Mother's out of the hospital," he said, "and she's tak"n me out of the workhouse." A fortnight later ue appeared again at the hospital, and asked to -see the matron. "A gentleman gaye me a penny this , mornirg, ma'am." he said to her. "Please, may I put it In your money box, because you were so kind to my dear little mouse?" , from jMln When I come in the nursery door The dolls bow down quite to the floor. That's just the way they used to do To Teddy Bear ('twixt me and you). FOR MY. PEOPLE?' - for every man dreaded the hardships of a trip across the terrible desert, and took care that there should be no cause for it. Soon cheerfulness displaced the for mer gloom of the king. The truth of the Sphinx's saying was evident. In asmuch as the king had but to threaten to turn away from" his king dom and go upon a quest of Informa tion, when peace would again be restored. Cruise of the Mousetrap SYNOPSIS OK PREVIOUS INSTALMENTS. dog start upon "ovatrfft schoon- I their travels In er," made fro luni an old sprlnK wagon. The "cruise" of the Mousetrap l tieHrribert tiv tne nov who Keeps ine "Ion," Camp Is first maiie upon the euse of a creek. Fete undertakes to mo buatinK In an old scow, which founders. Its owner appears, and not beinK satis fied with the boys' explanation, orders them off the premises. Further on they endeavor to steal ap ples, but are treed by a savage bulldog. They lasso the dog. however, and mak their scape. "While lourneylng along, Billy chances to see an idle steam thresh er II meddles with the machinery, thereby KettlnK into trouble. Ilia com panions have to conceal him In the Mousetrap. Zeke Is unharnessed and' Peta .pushes the wagon under an appi tree. Ho crawls on ton. with the dog. Intending to pick apples. But the Mouse trap suddenly rolls down hill The wagon, . after madly careering down the slope, plunges into a ditch, and Pete and Pretty are thrown off. though with out being hurt. Zeke Is fetched to draw the wagon out of the ditch and uphill again. Seeking: to spare the tired horse. Pete tries to borrow a hnrse from & near by field, but. even with the unlooked for aid of Prettr. fails in the accomplish ment. It Is discovered that the tailboard of the Mousetrap has been dropped, and that all the provisions have rolled out the back. Pete Is suspected of having eaten the victuals and of having loosed the tail board aa a means of covering his crime. (CONCLUDED FROM LAST WEEK.) tfT-ETE," says I, direct, "did you eat them things?" Then Pete says, with much of hotness: "No, I didn't: but a feller what's got half a gingerbread cookie sticking out'n is back pocket oughtn't a be 'cusln' other people." "Oh, that there cookie," I 'splains. memberin' that I HAD nibbled a cake or two, "was left over from some I took last night for supper." Tills belli' true, I saw no reason for them two hyenas to be a-doubtln" of me, which they did. Yes, slree; Biliy (was 'gainst me, too. An' I'd 'a' punch ed them both if they'd been only one. We drove along in combarrelative silence, as they say in poems, for half an hour. All this time we was a-cllmbin' up a mountain path, an' it was mighty hard goin' for Zeke, 1 can tell you. Pete always .gets crazy-like when "e gets oat into the woods. He likes to studjt 'bout birds an' trees an' hop toads an' things like those which la very foolish. After he thinks as deep as a well he ups and speaks: "Kellers, I spy a cabing yonder. An I was a-tliinkin' what a dandy little chimbly it has for the swallows to IPossum But 'fore he knew what 'twas about I came in and "cut him out." I didn't try it's just my "pull"; I can't help being Beau-ti-full EtSIE PAREISEL ANOTHER THE UG-ER-RUM! Xug-er-rum! A king- J we must nave!'" croaked the wisest old frog with the biggest spectacles. "Nee-deep! A king! Nee-deep! ' A king!" the other frogs chorused. One little fellow croaked so hard that he fell off his lily pad into the water; but, of course being a frog, he didn't mind get ting wet. So, unmindful of the fate of their an cestors, Who were gobbled up by tha stork king, the- frogs decided that a ruler they must have. "We will not make a mistake." said they, "and have a stupid log or a cruel stork for a king. No, Indeed; we will have a monarch who is noted for some good quality." . As soon as it became known through out Animal Land that the frogs were seeking a ruler, a monkey presented himself. "If you . choose met you1 will have & ' king who 4s famous for his wit," mod estly declared the monkey. Round about him gathered tha venera ble members of, the Frog Council. They peered wisely over their spectacles at the monkey; they whispered learnedly one to the other. Then the oldest, ho of the biggest spectacles, announced: "There is, truth in what the monkey ays. Him we shall have for our king." With much Joyful croaking, therefore, the monkey was crowned. Immediately he began to show his wit. "I.et all my subjects swim to the end of the pond this forenoon and clamber out upon the great atone by the bank, where a surprise is awaiting them," was the first command. This the frogs did. Hardly were they seated upon the stone than a savage dog rushed upon them and killed many before they could escape. "Ha! ha! Wasn't It a good surprise? PETE MADE HI3 WAY THROUGH IN A CARELESS FASHION build there. S'pose you wait an' rest Zeke for a mite while I shinny up the roof an" see if there's any o' tha birds about." "What if there should he folks in side the house?" I puts In. "What? A old catling like, that have people Inside of it? Not, on your life!" Sayin' of which, he Jumps on a ol' leaky waterbarrel . standln' at one corner of the house and climbs up the thatches to the chimbly. Hut just as he was about to look Inside the chimbly for swallers there was a ' terrible smash, the' roof squashed In, an' Pete began to make 'is way in a careless fashion rig-tit through to the floor beneath. j man with a mighty fierce look came out'n the door Jus' then, too. So Billy 'n' me, 'maglnin' 'e might steal Zeke. thought it best to run fer the Mousetrap Pete Joined us later, lookin' red In the face, an' sullen. "What did the man do to yuh for Jus' wantln' to look at the darlln' little swallers?" asks we, with much of kindness. "Nothln' an' you fellers shut up." enaps Pete, a not appreciatin' of our remarks. 'Did yuh ever notice," says Billy, soft, an' Basin' Innercent up at the sky, "how feJlera what's been spank ed good 'n' Sard always sets down real careful an gingerly . like?" This was too much for Pete. I'll show yuh!" he yells, an' throws a carrot right at Billy's head. Now, we d meant that carrot for Zeke. an', as the carrot flew right past Billy's head, Zeke DID get It. but not in the way 'e ought to have got it. It hit 'im a orful whack in the ear. An', not thlnkin' we could uv been so crool, the poor ol' horse was fright ened. So, choosin' a stee,p path leadin' down the mountain, he went tearin' on as fast as ever he could. An', say, I never would uv thought ol' Zeke had it in Im to be so speedy! He was swift aa llghtnln'. an' after a while the Aiousirap got a rockin' and bouncln from side to side In a way aa meant ruin. The rum came wnen w"r" knocked off an' then another, and the whola Mousetrap more'n a memmery a wasn't much quarter-minute afterward. tuvrsiru, i . WhMi -ar A all come to an had retch ed Zeke an' comforted poor little Pret ty, which was howlin' like 'is heart was brcskin'. we looked with considerable of sadness erpon what was wunst a gal lunt Mousetrap. This was no time to be a-blamin' one another, it was too solum for that. "Fellers," says myself, "I give yuh my offlshal resignation as Keeper of tha Log, for now that there ain't no Mouse trap there certainly can't be no crulsa and natcherally no log." An' so wa started fer horns. Ona of - ' ' ;. - RULER FOR FROGS SCRUTINIZED BV THK COUNCIL Wasn't it a clever Joke?" laughed tha king when the wisest old frog com plained. He was told that the frogs did not relish such a Joke. "Well, then," replied the monkey. "I'll give you another kind of a surprise. Swim you all to the other end of tha pond and climb out upon the stone at that end." This, also, the frogs did. And this time there came a man-child, who rap tured some of their number and hud frops' legs for dinner. As the days passed the monkey's Jokes became more numerous, while the num ber of frogs grew less, until, at last, all tho frogs disappeared. Victims were they of that very wit for whleh they had chosen their king. us 'd ride Zeko and the others walkM. Pretty used to make believe 'e was tired an' would luy down in the butilies so n Pete 'n' Hilly 'n' me would pick 'im up and carry 'im on Zeke's back. But we 'scoverod 'e was a ol' hyppercrlte an' could walk as well s Zeke. only he wan too lazy. After which l'retty could howl as much as he pleased an' we wouldn't carry him. Not much, we wouldn't! Pretty was awful unpopular. But he was Jus' na popular as us with the folks of our town when we came tralpsln' in. They nil came out and laughed, 'zactly as afore they came out an' cheered when we left. 'Course, we was a hard-lookin' lot. but wed been through lots o' hardships, like as would have trlei! tho heart of a Daniel Hnona or George Washington or Hickory Pete durln' the last two days. An' speakln' offlshally, as wunst beln' Keeper of the Log. I don't think it was necessary for every one. to shake their heads like as If they was awful wise, which we all know they ain't, and say: "I told you so.'' 'Deed, the cruise was all rlRht V good as far as it went, only it didn't go very far. But we're goln' to make peopl9 laugh the other way some time, when we have another Mousetrap, and go 'round the world an' become famous. But Pretty ain't goln' to come along. Weve decided that It was on 'count o' him that our other voyages all came out poor. (THE END.) You're a Brick NO DOUBT you have often heard one man say to another, when he is very much pleased, "You are a brick, old fellow!" Perhaps you will think it Is a very queer thing to say, but I will tell you how such a saying- is said to have come in um. Many, many years ago a famous king sent an ambassador to another famous king. The ambassador was much sur prised to firia that the king whom ho was visiting had no walls around his city. N In those days, of course, in order to keep out enemies, nearly every city was surrounded by strong and high walls. So the surprised ambassador said to the king, "Why, you have no walls for tha f Itv?" "We have," said the king. "Where, where?" asked the ambassa dor, more surprised than ever. The king" then pointed-to his large a I'm V tthtnh Bran wrt am n ....... J J i .. ,.., " a ' . . mi - "aj, aim said, with a smile, "There are the walls of my city. Every man you see is a brick!" The king- meant that in enemy would nave to defeat those soldiers before they that is. the enemy could enter tha cuy. , . .